Commuters groan over poor BRT, LAGBUS services

We’re working to meet demand –Officials

Commuters across Lagos metropolis have criticised what they called the “shoddy arrangement” in the operation of LAGBUS and the Bus Rapid Transit, BRT.
Investigation by National Mirror revealed that passengers spend a long time, waiting for the mass transit buses at the various designated bus stops on a daily basis.
From Berger to Ojota, TBS to CMS, Mile 12 to Onipan, Ikorodu to Lagos Island, Iyana-Ipaja to Ikotun/Igando, stranded and frustrated passengers groan in the long queues following endless wait for the buses.
While some commuters decried the endless wait at bus stops, others accused LABUS and BRT drivers and officials of deliberately refusing to ply some remote areas.
A stranded passenger, Mrs. Tobi Adesokan, told our correspondent that at times, she had to wait for almost two hours at Ojota BRT corridor, which is close to her house.
According to her, the LAGBUS drivers refused to go to CMS, even after she had purchased the N120 CMS ticket. She said: “Government ought to do something about these drivers and those operating BRT.
Those drivers prefer to go to Palm Groove, Onipanu, Costain bus stops instead of CMS that we paid for. That is why the queue is long.
“They sometimes ask us to abruptly alight halfway to join another bus which may even break down on the way. Is this how traffic law will operate when people are getting stranded, waiting for the bus we can’t see?”
Another passenger at Berger LAGBUS bus stop, Mr. Ikenna Julius, decried the operation of the scheme, saying he had waited for over three hours at CMS bus park without any bus in sight.
Also, when National Mirror visited Leventis bus stop, over 300 stranded passengers were waiting for the buses going to FESTAC, Berger and other designated routes.
One of the stranded passengers, Mrs. Bunmi Ogunkoya, who works with an insurance firm in Marina, on the Lagos Island, said she had been waiting for about two and a half hours.
She said: “Look at the time now, it is 7:30pm, no bus is in sight. I don’t know why our government is like this!
Do you take something from people without replacing it? You have in your traffic law policies that are unfriendly to the people. “The effective transportation systems that will cushion the effect of the law on people are not there.
Now, the masses are left to suffer as a result of the implementation of the law.”
Reacting to the development, the General Manager of LAGBUS, Mr. Babatunde Disu, agreed that there had been increase in the demand for the public transport system in the state.
He, however, said that measures were on to meet commuters’ demand. Disu said the restriction of the commercial motorcyclists on some of the major roads could also be responsible for the high demand of the LAGBUS/BRT services, adding that more fleets were expected to be added to the existing ones. He said: “There is no doubt about the fact that we are recording increase in the demand for our services.
“Firstly, we cannot rule out the impact of the restriction of operations of the commercial motorcycles in the sudden rise in the number of those patronising our buses. But the fact is that we are making efforts to increase the fleet of the buses we have.
“Of course, traffic congestion on the road could equally be responsible for the travel time of the LAGBUS drivers which may delay in the arrival of the bus to the park.
“The task of improving the service of LAGBUS is a collective responsibility of everyone. It is a private partnership scheme.”
On the allegation that the drivers and the officials of the scheme dodge some routes, Disu said: “People must also know that the buses run on designated routes and that the drivers can only stop at authorised bus stops.
“Meanwhile, they can report any driver or official to us. In the case of the driver, they take note of the code number on the bus.”
Also speaking with our correspondent on the development, the Commissioner for Transportation, Comrade Kayode Opeifa, said the crowd of stranded commuters at bus stops was normal in a city like Lagos.
He said: “If you see people at the bus stops in the evening, it is normal.
Go to America and London train stations; you will see people there at rush hours. But when you get there at 10am, do you see people there? During the period, you will see more buses there than the people.
“So, it is a function of demand and supply and rush hour. What we are doing in Lagos is to provide mass transit that can be reliable. “After awhile there will be special re-distribution of these resources.
Some commercial buses are not plying some roads because there are too many motorcycles there. So, when they see that Okada is longer there instead of going empty, they find their way to where passengers are.
“Besides, we are doing the re-routing of the commercial buses so that those areas with more people will have more buses. “By the time we start the re-routing; you won’t find all this again. We put them where there is demand.”
Punch